Update, 19 October 2026: These changes did not take effect on 1 August 2026. By an advisory dated 29 July 2026, GSTN put both the mandatory Ship-To GSTIN capture and the voluntary e-way bill closure facility on hold until further notice, and said no system changes are needed for now. Keep generating e-way bills as before until GSTN announces a new date.
GSTN has deferred two e-way bill portal changes from 15 June to 1 August 2026 after industry feedback on ERP readiness. Both matter to any business that moves goods.
The two changes
- Ship-To GSTIN becomes mandatory in Bill-To/Ship-To transactions. For delivery to an unregistered location, enter “URP”.
- A new voluntary e-way bill closure facility: supplier, recipient or transporter can close the EWB on the day of delivery or the next day, creating a clean delivery trail.
What to do
- Pre-validate the GSTINs of customer delivery locations you regularly ship to.
- Update billing/ERP templates so the Ship-To GSTIN field is captured before 1 August 2026.
